The Sunnyvale Sun

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Students and sponsor will benefit from art showcase

By SAMANTHA ROBERTSON

Blue Coat Systems employees wouldn't say the best art in the Bay Area is housed in a museum or gallery. They would say it's where they work.

The art adorning their Sunnyvale workspace came to them via the Blue Coat Systems Art Showcase. Featuring the painting, sculpting and glass-blowing abilities of local high school students, the event allowed the tech company employees to view and choose the pieces they wanted to liven up their offices.

Held June 10 on Blue Coat's Sunnyvale campus, the event was the brainchild of employees Gabrielle Angel, John Carosella and Annedore Kushner. When the security software tech company moved into its Sunnyvale office on N. Mary Avenue in September 2005, it found itself with a lot of empty wall space and plenty of funds in its community outreach and redecoration coffer.

"We wanted to find a way to get art in the building and sponsor an event that would benefit the community," Angel said. Angel is an executive assistant with Blue Coat and the co-organizer of the event.

The mayor's office and the Fremont Union High School District put the organizers in contact with Lee Akamichi, a Lynbrook High School art teacher who helped the organizers sort out the logistics of the event. Akamichi said the school grants and individual prize money Blue Coat doled out for the event were a much-needed financial boost for art departments and art students across the Bay Area, both of which, he said, lack sufficient funding.

"My students go through about $8,000 worth of supplies in a year, so the grant money is a huge help," Akamichi said. On behalf of Lynbrook High School in Cupertino, he accepted a $5,000 grant for the best school showing.

Carosella, Blue Coat vice president and general manager, said the event gave him the unanticipated benefit of scouting future employees for his company.

"These are the kids we are going to hire in the future," he said. "Just think of how much time and thought went into creating some of these pieces. That is the type of long-term planning, commitment and creative thinking we look for in our employees."

The organizers were surprised not only by the high quality of the art presented but also by how much the art inspired them and their coworkers.

"I saw employees stop cold in their tracks, look at a piece of art, and say, 'I never would have thought of that,' " Carosella said.

He thought the fresh ideas and innovative techniques used by the student artists expanded the employees' creative perceptions.

The art will be housed at the company's office until the art showcase next year, which will provide Blue Coat with a new crop of art, plus provide leads on possible future hires.